Renewed Selling Pressure Likely For Indonesia Shares

The Indonesia stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had improved almost 60 points or 0.8 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just above the 7,225-point plateau although it's likely to move lower again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky and may be dictated by earnings news, although technology stocks figure to be under pressure regardless. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following mixed and volatile performances from the financials and resource stocks.

For the day, the index picked up 28.13 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 7,227.36 after trading between 7,184.96 and 7,262.56.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia spiked 3.02 percent, while Bank CIMB Niaga plummeted 6.84 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia soared 6.85 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 0.33 percent, Bank Mandiri rallied 3.63 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia jumped 6.13 percent, Indosat skyrocketed 15.85 percent, Indocement fell 0.49 percent, Semen Indonesia declined 1.65 percent, Indofood Suskes rose 0.40 percent, United Tractors tanked 4.22 percent, Energi Mega Persada climbed 1.09 percent, Bakrie Sumatera Plantations sank 0.77 percent, Astra Agro Lestari retreated 1.58 percent, Aneka Tambang skidded 1.05 percent, Vale Indonesia surrendered 2.31 percent, Timah dropped 1.00 percent, Bumi Resources surged 5.00 percent and Astra International was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the Dow opened higher Monday and stayed that way, the NASDAQ opened lower and remained in negative territory and the S&P opened higher but fell late into the red.

The Dow jumped 249.59 points or 0.71 percent to finish at 35,160.79, while the NASDAQ tumbled 166.59 points or 1.22 percent to close at 13,453.07 and the S&P eased 2.76 points or 0.06 percent to end at 4,459.45.

A steep drop by shares of Netflix (NFLX) weighed on the NASDAQ, with the streaming giant plummeting by 35.1 percent to its lowest closing level in four years after the company reported the loss of 200,000 subscribers in Q1. On the other hand, the continued advance by the Dow reflected strong gains by IBM Corp. (IBM) and Procter & Gamble (PG).

Late in the day, the Federal Reserve released its Beige Book, which said U.S. economic activity has expanded at a moderate pace since mid-February. Consumer spending has accelerated among retail and non-financial service firms, as Covid-19 cases tapered across the country.

In U.S. economic news, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing existing home sales saw further downside in March.

Crude oil prices inched higher Wednesday after data showed a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. Concerns about supplies from Russia and disruptions in Libya also pushed oil prices higher. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June rose $0.14 or 0.1 percent at $102.19 a barrel.

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